A ‘meat tax’ which would almost double the price of a packet of sausages should be brought in to prevent thousands of Britons dying each year, health experts have said.

Researchers at Oxford University set out to determine the level of tax needed to offset the healthcare costs of eating red and processed meat.

They calculated that increasing the cost of red meat by 14 per cent, and processed meat by 79 per cent would prevent the deaths of nearly 6,000 people each year and save the NHS nearly £1 billion annually.

It would mean a £2.50 packet of sausages would rise to £4.47, and a fillet steak increase from £5.50 to £6.27.

Why can't government mandarins just admit that the decrepit and increasingly unfit for purpose NHS is no longer the wonderful thing that they brought to the people in 1948? It needs a deep review of its raison d'être including a total fiscal restructuring to remain a financially viable enterprise rather than dreaming up fanciful, selective and frankly punitive 'taxes' on the people that they are supposed to be keeping healthy?

Start by trimming some of these overheads instead of boasting about them?

"The NHS employs more than 1.5 million people, putting it in the top five of the world’s largest workforces, together with the US Department of Defence, McDonalds, Walmart and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army."